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In anticipation of the release of my new book, Blessing the Hands that Feed Us, in January, I’ve developed a new website to hold all my various interests – food, money, dialogue, comedy, community resilience – in one http://vickirobin.com site. Please please please sign up there for the RSSfeed as that’s where I’ll be blogging from now on. If you aren’t on my email list, sign up there as well. You’ll get notices of talks, classes, online courses and all other offerings, and probably those special discounts for you only (when I think of what they’ll be).

Here’s a linkto my newsletter coming out on Monday. Enjoy! News of the new book, my TEDx talk, and possibly in the long run the most important work: the Local Food Lab.

I have a blog post on the new site already where I sort out as well and carefully as I can why I eat meat – now as a treat, not as a meal but still an important part of my diet. And another one on frugality and good food. And another one brewing. It’s going to come alive now that my book is so close to publication.

Vicki Robin, a prolific social innovator, writer and speaker, is coauthor with Joe Dominguez of the international best-seller, Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence. Her new book, Blessing the Hands that Feed Us; what eating closer to home taught me about food, community and our place on earth (Viking/Penguin 2014) tells how her experiment in 10-mile eating not only changed how she ate, but also renewed her hope and rooted her in her community.

Called by the NY Times the “prophet of consumption downsizers,”Vicki has helped launch many sustainability initiatives including: The New Road Map Foundation, The Simplicity Forum, The Conversation Cafes, The Turning Tide Coalition, Sustainable Seattle, The Center for a New American Dream, Transition Whidbey and more.

For fun, Vicki is a comedy improv actress, appearing frequently with her troupe, Comedy Island.

I had the joy, privilege and challenge of speaking tonight via webcast to an evolutionary wisdom group Craig Hamilton hosts. I start with the environmental and social constraints of this moment, with how the money and financial systems sit in and fight against these realities and then went on to talking about Your Money or Your Life, collaborative consumption, community investing and a host of other things. I invite you to click this link and go for the ride with me. Let me know your thoughts.

A friend recently told me that her building in lower Manhattan flooded when Hurricane Sandy hit. We tsk-tsked about Climate Change, but when I asked her if she’d move, she shrugged. Apparently not.

So many of us shrug. We worry. We write letters. We march. But our daily lives pretty much remain the same. This reminded me of a story we quoted in Your Money or Your Life about a man, a doctor and a pain in the butt. Here’s an excerpt – and do ask, “What tacks am I sitting on?”:

“Suppose that I, a family doctor, make a house call to see a patient with a pain in the gluteus maximus — the buttock. In the course of my physical examination I find that the patient is sitting on a tack. Read the rest of this entry »

Just in time for the Holiday consumer gorge – a video antidote. Man tells the story of, well, man – but through the somewhat jaded but nevertheless keen and penetrative gaze of London based animator and illustrator Steve Cutts. We get to see half a million years of human history in just a few minutes.

December 8, 2012: If you live on Vashon Island, Amy Morrison and I are hoping to gather foodies and farmers and food activists that evening for a conversation about strengthening regional food systems. Contact her if you want an invite.

December 11, 2012: If you live anywhere you can join the Transition US free webinar – Hyper-Locavoring – when I will share my discoveries from my 10-mile diet which led me to the idea of “relational eating” (eating closer to home) and a passion for “complementary food systems” – revitalizing regional agriculture so we might have far more of our daily fare locally grown. Through it all, I restored my hope and deepened my sense of belonging. It’s going to be rich. Please join me.

December 14, 2012: If you live in Puget Sound join me for an inspiring event at the Whidbey Geodome housed in the Earth Portal Exhibit Hall at the Seattle Center.
Reception 6:30 pm, Talk – 7:30 pm. Tickets: $15. The Whidbey GeoDome show Earth Portal: A Guided Tour of the Universe and Our Place in It is included. Space is limited. RSVP to reserve tickets: info@whidbeygeodome.org.

What would it take for us to shift from anywhere eating to local eating? Resilient communities and resourceful people are transforming the way food is sourced, cooked and eaten so we can assure safe, fresh, fair, plentiful and nourishing food for all – however the political, energy and climate winds blow. This shift from industrial to relational eating, though, will rattle many structures: our preferences and habits, our disconnection from community, our social agreements about money and property and more. In her forthcoming book, Blessing the Hands that Feed Us Vicki shares her adventures in hyper local eating and explores how “local food” can scale up to make a difference in the big question of “How do we feed 9 billion people”?

January 29, 2013: I’ll speak at the monthly Transition Fidalgo Seventh Generation Feast in Anacortes, Washington. Contact them for more details.

If you want to stay current between these occasional newsletters, here’s how:

Rob vanEeden and Hanneke vanVeen translated and adapted Your Money or Your Life into Dutch and then German after years of their own fame as “tightwads” in the Netherlands. Here’s their lovely message about their journey with the book, program and way of life.

Welcome. Below you will find a biography of Vicki Robin (and tribute to her coauthor Joe Dominguez) and links to her past work with the New Road Map Foundation and her current work teaching about Money, Happiness, Enough and Community. Please click the links and explore the world Vicki has ... Continue reading →

Revised and Updated for the 21st Century

New stories, stats and examples. Updated advice on saving and investing. New coauthor: Monique Tilford, 20-year leader in sustainable consumption field. In this global economic crunch, the perennial and practical wisdom in Your Money or Your Life is even more relevant.